[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Chad L. Readler

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on Readler, later this afternoon, the 
Senate will vote on the confirmation of Chad Readler to the Sixth 
Circuit. As this Chamber by now is no doubt aware, Mr. Readler was the 
chief cook and bottle washer of the Trump administration's decision not 
to defend the healthcare law in court. In a brief submitted to the 
court on behalf of the Department of Justice, Mr. Readler said that 
protections for the 130 million Americans with preexisting conditions 
are unconstitutional.
  I say to my Republican friends: Do you want to vote for a judge who 
says that protecting preexisting conditions, which affect 130 million 
Americans, is unconstitutional?
  Well, that is what you are going to do if you vote for Readler.
  Even my Republican colleague Senator Alexander, who oversees the 
committee that created these protections, calls his arguments ``as 
farfetched as I have ever heard.''
  Can you imagine the lack of compassion it takes to argue that 130 
million Americans with cancers, respiratory ailments, and all the way 
down to asthma don't deserve the guarantee of affordable healthcare? 
Can you imagine voting for a man who is so cold-hearted that he doesn't 
protect a mother who has a daughter or a son with cancer and the 
insurance company cuts them off, and they have to watch their child 
suffer?
  Can our Republican colleagues actually vote for a nominee who feels 
that way not just in his words but in his action? This vote is going to 
be remembered for a long time--a long, long time.
  Can you imagine sitting at your desk on an average workday and 
arguing for a policy with such catastrophic consequences for a third of 
our country? I, for one, cannot. That is what Readler did.
  The very next day, after he wrote that brief, he was nominated for 
this lifetime appointment on the bench. Go figure. Only in the Trump 
administration could a person be rewarded for efforts to take 
healthcare away from average Americans. That is exactly what happened.
  Yesterday, regrettably, the Senate proceeded to Readler's nomination 
over the objections of one of his home State Senators, Senator Sherrod 
Brown. Republican leaders are so eager to confirm judges that they are 
willing to break the blue-slip tradition even when the nominee is the 
literal encapsulation of their party's most heartless policy, I might 
add--a policy that helped them lose the House and could help them lose 
future elections, if they only care about that.
  Republican Senators still have a chance to reject the cynicism behind 
Mr. Readler's nomination. They have a chance to stand up for 
healthcare. I would ask my colleagues, is the confirmation of one 
circuit judge really worth endorsing the position that our healthcare 
law should be repealed and Americans with preexisting conditions should 
not be protected? The answer to that question ought to be obvious.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to vote no on Mr. Readler's 
nomination this afternoon.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.